Monday, January 16, 2012

Tired Hands Brewing Company

A little over a week ago, I contacted one of the owners, Jean Broillet IV, of the upcoming Tired Hands Brewpub in Ardmore and asked if I could stop by and check the place out. Apparently people are always stopping by on the weekend so he said sure, come by whenever. It's a pretty easy place to find, just off the main road in Ardmore. At least I think it's the main road, I don't really know Ardmore well. There seemed to be a decent bit of metered parking in the area and it's about two blocks from the R5 station (or whatever it's called now) so it seems like it'll be quite convenient to visit.

Right now the outside is nothing much to look at although I think they just put in a bunch of work on it this weekend so it may look more interesting now. When you enter there's some tanks on the left and various construction equipment throughout the room.
That's a view towards the back of the first floor. There is going to be some brewing equipment in the back where the floor is raised slightly. The beer will then be sent by gravity to the basement where it will ferment and then be held for serving.

Here are some more pictures of the building and progress they've made so far.
First floor tanks again.

Jean and I in the back enjoying some of his beer. It was pretty great which is a good sign.

This is a ladder leading up to the second floor. Don't worry, it'll be stairs soon, this isn't going to be some weird deathtrap brewpub where you have to climb a rickety ladder to get upstairs. I don't think his insurance would cover that.

Partial look at the second floor. This is where most of the tables will be and where most people will sit for a real meal. There will still be a small bar on the right side though. His basic plan is the first floor will be a bar area where people will stop in and stand around chatting while the second will be the dining area.

Don't know if he's going to do anything with this sign, but I had Jo take a picture of it. Not sure you can really see it but it's a weird looking caricature.

And here's the basement. I know those are at least holding tanks (I forget the appropriate brewing term) but there are some fermentation tanks down there too. In the back (we're facing it) will also be room for 16-20 barrels once things are finished.

Finally, this will go on top of one of the tanks. Copper is really good for brewing as it adds some much needed minerals. At least I think that's true.

That's all the pictures I had but here are some posts by Bryan at the brewlounge that he took during other phases of construction and times he met Jean. I was going to link the posts individually but got lazy so that link goes to his Tired Hands tag. They are all worth reading though so you should.

I was excited about this place before visiting but now I wish it was already open. I can't wait to start visiting it and trying all of Jean's beers. I'm also secretly hoping he'll show me how he makes his bread so that I can finally see someone else do it and improve my technique but we'll see how that goes. Regardless, Tired Hands looks like it'll be an awesome addition to the scene and the fact that it will be easily accessible by the R5 is just icing on the cake. Cannot wait for April or May when he thinks it'll finally be ready!

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